2006 S.F. Flower & Garden Show

Here are a few photos of scenery, exhibits and items I particularly enjoyed. If you go today or tomorrow, be sure to attend some of the excellent seminars and come prepared to lug home a bunch of plants and bulbs and garden tools and gismos and gadgets. A lot of smart folks bring those collapsible shopping carts on wheels.

Plants I bought:

• Epiphyllum 'Tele' from Epiphyllum World. Epis are my new addiction.
• 2 tree peonies from The Lily Pad
• Heuchera 'Chocolate Ruffles' from Digging Dog Nursery
• Dierama pulcherrimum from Digging Dog
• Persicaria virginiana 'Lance Corporal' from Digging Dog... nope... just discovered the plant was mislabeled. If or when I figure out what I bought, I'll report back.
  

It was a beautiful sunny day in the city. Keep both hands on the wheel when photographing while driving.


Striking wall-mounted pots planted with the unfortunately named Senecio rowleyanus, a.k.a. String of Pearls




"The Junkman's Paradisio"
This is my kind of garden... a rough and tumble mix of herbs, recycled art, pots, painted raised beds, herbs, edibles and a compost bin.


"Pod"


Arizona State University's "Jelly, Bean and Me". This display will freak your freak. What're college kids smokin' these days?




This is your asparagus on steroids.


"Livin' Cheap in Baja"



"A Garden Railroad"


Chelsea Antiques has these great giant metal roosters. I want one for my front yard. Tee hee.




The Original Living Wreath by Margee
www.livingwreath.com

These are so cool!


View from inside the "women's" restroom... Are the hydrangeas there to prevent us from mistaking a urinal for a toilet? We chicas are smarter than that. If they're there purely for a splash of color, well, then BRAVO!




Heading home around 4pm. Traffic wasn't too bad. It only took about thirty minutes to get over the Bay Bridge. Last year I left the Cow Palace a little later and it took me over an hour to get over the bridge... in the rain, bumper to bumper.


I always like to swing by 4th Street in Berkeley on the way home to hit a few stores and grab a bite to eat before heading back to Sacramento. The AeroGarden pictured above was at Sur La Table. Neato, huh?

This year, we got some lovely takeout from The Pasta Shop and ate it in the car. I love eating in parked cars. A lowfat mocha (no whip) from Peet's a couple doors down gave me enough caffeine to counteract the pasta and allowed me to remain alert for the drive home. New sights, new plants, good food, good coffee, good company... what a fun day!

Lazy Rooting

One of my favorite GardenWeb threads is "I'm Lazy-- What can you root in plain old water???". Did you know that pricey bunch of Italian basil rotting in your fridge roots easily in water? No? Well, plunk some of those stems in water and shout, "Pesto!"

Here's what else lazy rooters are rooting in plain old agua:

euonymus
rosemary
geranium
impatiens
willow
coleus
mint
mock orange
african violets
passion vine
tomato suckers
oleander
hydrangea
forsythia
snowball bush
gardenia
weigela
ficus
bay laurel
persicaria
lamium
oregano
sweet potato vine
pineapple tops
christmas cactus
hardy mums
philodendron
pothos
flowering quince
petunia
snapdragon
salvia
sedum
lemon grass
begonia
butterfly bush
mandevilla
fuchsia
abutilon
tropical hibiscus
wandering jew
spider plant
angel's trumpet
diascia
pineapple
aucuba

There's some discussion about "water roots" making it in soil, and one suggestion was to transplant when the roots are "an inch to and inch and a quarter long" and haven't yet differentiated into water roots and can still become soil roots. Bears experimentation, I'd say! If I have a chance, I'll check my plant propagation books and see what they say. I've had great luck rooting Persian Shield in water and growing it in the garden and I paid absolutely no attention to root length. Still, I'd like to explore further.

What I like to do on a rainy day

My tomato seeds arrived yesterday from Tomato Growers Supply. Gotta get those babies planted! Working in the greenhouse on a rainy day is pretty fun except for the fact that water drip drops through the roof while I'm working. Still, the little space heater keeps things toasty and my radio keeps my ears happy.

Rainy days in the garden

Costco Bulbs

Looky what I got at Costco. Look for these varieties and many more at Costcoriffic prices.

Hail yesterday, cleaning denial today

On the plus side, it's not raining. On the minus side, it's too chilly outside to do anything but run back inside! I was resigned to the necessity of tackling deferred domestic drudgery today, but then I saw my morning glory seeds bursting to life in a water-filled juice glass. Saved by the seeds.

They were an impulse purchase (Raley's sells morning glory seeds? Cool!). I'd decided to plant them in the ground in early April until I lifted the seed packs off my kitchen counter yesterday and discovered they were wet. Whatever the cause, I needed to nick and soak the seeds in case they'd been inadvertently awakened from dormancy. The packet recommends using nail clippers to nick the hard dark seed coat. I nicked, then I plopped and today I planted all fifty or so plump, already-sprouting seeds.

I mixed a pack of 'Early Call Mix' with a pack of 'Flying Saucers' so I'll be looking at an unrestrained mix of lavender, white, hot pink, purple, pale pink surrounded by white and "tie-dye" blue and white.

I'll be checking today's mail for tomato seeds. My TGS order is taking its sweet time getting to me from, jeeze, where the heck are they? They're in Florida! I can just picture a heroic Floridian mail carrier rescuing my seeds from snapping alligators or crocodiles or whatever man-eating creatures accompany them on their daily mail routes. If the gators didn't get my tomato seeds, then maybe a hurricane did. Luckily, I've got 'Black', 'Celebrity' and 'Copia' already up and runnin' in the greenhouse.

Well, it's time for me to face the cleaning music. That's it... I need some cleaning music. Wonder what's new on iTunes?

Bean Teepee

In preparation for warm-season veggie gardening, I made two bean teepees... for my beans, of course. I added horizontal rows of twine for additional support. The teepees are open in front to allow for harvesting inside the teepee.

I was a little concerned about the beans casting shade on my greenhouse until I realized that by the time the beans reach the top of the teepee, the sun will be nearly overhead and the greenhouse probably won't be in use since I mostly use it in Fall, Winter and Spring.

Starting Plants

I bid on and won two unrooted cuttings of 'Slightly Sassy' epiphyllum on ebay and was given 'Ferris Wheel' and another variety as a bonus. I'm finding more and more that ebay can be a great source for new and interesting plants. And "Epis" can be addicting. I started with an unrooted cutting of a red-flowering epi from a friend. It's done very well and now I'm able to share it around. Yep, epis are addicting and epis are for sharing.

On the seed front, several flower varieties are germinating in the greenhouse. Pictured below are my nasturtium 'Whirlybird Cherry Rose' seedlings. Nasturtiums are so fun to germinate because they always seem to come up, the seeds are big and round and easy to plop into seed-starting mix, and they germinate very quickly. Whenever I start wondering if the seemingly microsopic seeds I planted simply blew away or are just taking their sweet time germinating, I just look at my nasturtiums for comfort. Good old dependable, visible-to-the-naked-eye nasturtiums...

Bloomin' in the backyard

Finally, some sunshine

But could you do something about this wet ground?

Heat-tolerant Tomatoes

Here's what I'd like to see... a Sacramento tomato trial that evaluates the best-tasting, highest-yielding heat-resistant tomatoes! Since fruit set is poor at temps above 90-95 degrees F, it seems like we should be looking more closely at varieties that don't faint on a typical July or August day in Sacramento.

Several of the mid-season varieties sold by Tomato Growers Supply are said to fruit well under high heat conditions, including:

Solar Fire (New!)
Solar Set
Spitfire
Sunchaser
Sunleaper
Sunmaster

Anybody grown these locally? How productive are they and how do they taste?

The Real Dirt on Farmer John Movie

Looks fun! Learn more about this documentary in Amy Stewart's blog entry, "Dirt: The Real Dirt on Farmer John". You'll want to queue it up on Netflix. I did.

Tomatoes-- To Pinch or Not to Pinch

Check out this article from Fine Gardening:
Pruning Tomatoes

Do you pinch?!!!

Local Heirloom Tomato Yields

From SacBee, February 2003:

They were judged for size and yield. Hmmm... wonder how they taste?

Dan Vierria: Ugly can be beautiful when it comes to tomatoes

Tomato Torment...

Oh.... what to plant this year? I need to decide ASAP because I need to order seeds from Tomato Growers Supply if I decide on a somewhat unusual variety.

Ok, here are the top 20 tomato varieties for Sacramento in 2005 according to a survey of experts by Sacramento Bee Garden Writer, Dan Vierria:

Azoychka
Beefy Boy
Better Boy
Big Mama
Brandy Boy
Brandywine
Caspian Pink
Celebrity
Christmas Grapes
Dona
Jetsetter
Lemon Boy
Marianna's Peace
Mexico
Pineapple
Pink Ping Pong
Roma
SunGold
SunSugar
Sweet Million

Morningsun Herb Farm Top 20, 2005

SUNGOLD
SUPER SWEET 100
CHEROKEE PURPLE
BLACK CHERRY
SNOW WHITE CHERRY
CARBON
CABERNET
SWEET CHELSEA
COUSTROLEE
GARDEN PEACH
GREEN GRAPE
DIXIE GOLDEN GIANT
SOUTHERN NIGHT
TANGERINE
MR. STRIPEY
STUPICE
GREEN ZEBRA
TAPPY HERITAGE
LEMON BOY
AMANA ORANGE

Redwood Barn Nursery Recommendations (Don Shor):

Standard varieties:
Ace: "Dependable, sets in a wide range of temperatures. Heavy on tomato flavor. Beautiful fruit, great salad variety, but tough skin. Nice compact plant." Great for small spaces.

Better Boy: "Similar to Early Girl, but hasn't got the depth of flavor. Very productive." Very heavy fruit set on large vines makes it a great one for sauce production.

Celebrity: "Very reliable producer. Excellent for slicing. Moderate size plants. FAVORITE TOMATO #2!"

Champion: Very good flavor, large vine, large fruit, very productive. The largest-fruited type that produces reliably here.

Early Girl: "FAVORITE TOMATO #1!" This one routinely wins taste tests in California, and produces reliably from early summer into the winter.

Roma: "Real workhorse of a tomato. Very productive on compact plants which don't need staking. Great flavor, even used fresh. Very reliable. FAVORITE #3!" The best for sauce.

Cherry, yellow, and other varieties:
Green Zebra: "Delicious, sprightly. Unusually good flavor for a yellow tomato. Pretty." Bizarre looking fruit.

Husky Gold: "My favorite yellow tomato!"

Husky Red: "Good flavor. Beautiful little plant. Great for small spaces or containers."

Lemon Boy: "Early results impressive. Better texture than Golden Jubilee."

Patio: "Cute little plant. The best for smaller pots. Sweet, firm fruit." Surprisingly productive for an 18" plant.

SunGold: "YUMMM! My favorite cherry tomato. Dries into candy. Everyone should grow it!" One of the best tomatoes ever.

Sweet 100: "Unbelievably productive. A very good cherry tomato. Kids really love them. Great for salads (and slingshots!)--small enough to eat in one bite (unlike most cherry tomatoes)."

Heirloom and gourmet varieties--
we continue to try the many varieties available. This is by no means a definitive listing!

Brandywine: "Very popular, mild flavor. Mealy texture."

Carmello: "Thin skinned, mealy. More flavorful than Beefsteak types, with better acid/sugar balance."

Costoluto Genovese: "Impressive; similar to Marmande. Productive."

Marmande: "Very fruity; acid/sugar balance is great."

Marval Striped, and Old German (very similar varieties): "Mild, thin-skinned, mealy. Slicing tomato. Sweet."

Principe Borghese: "I love it! Wildly productive. Excellent depth of flavor. Makes great sauce, though with lots of seeds and skin (strain the sauce)."

___________________________________

My list, so far:

Black (heirloom, indeterminate, late season at 80-85 days)
Early Girl (early season, 52 days, indeterminate)
SunGold or SunSugar (both indeterminate, early season at 57 days & 62 days)
Celebrity (Yes, I was somewhat swayed by Don Shor's comment)(determinate, midseason, 70 days)

I think another heirloom would be fun to finish off with. I really don't have room for more plants if I want to grow any peppers or melons or squash this year.

In the past, I've gotten consistently tasty results from:

'Patio'
'Yellow Pear'
'Purple Calabash'
'Sweet 100'
'Caspian Pink'
'SunGold'

Interesting to note that SunGold and Lemon Boy were the only varieties showing up on all three lists! If you like 'em sweet and dependable, you need to surrender your heart to SunGold. I'll admit to lusting in my heart for SunSugar, but I'll always be true to SunGold...

UPDATE (3:38pm, Sat., Feb 25)-- I started some seeds of 'Black' in the greenhouse today using last year's seeds. Also came across some 'Celebrity' seeds from last year and started a six-pack of them because a) I had the seeds and b) Don Shor spoke glowingly of 'Celebrity'.

UPDATE (7:51am, Tuesday, Feb 28)-- I am ordering seeds of 'Black from Tula' (Thanks, Amy!), 'Lemon Boy' and 'Costoluto Genovese' (Thanks, Don!). I'm starting to worry about where I'm going to plant this many tomatoes, but where there's a will, there's a way, right? Right? Do I feel like I'm done choosing? No. I lack a really cool bicolor tomato. I grew 'Speckled Roman' a couple years ago and it was gorgeous! Tomato Growers Supply doesn't sell seed for 'Speckled Roman' so I took that as a sign to try something else. Perhaps I should start some of last year's 'Copia' seeds so I can give it another try. I didn't get great results from it last year, but as we all know, this year could be very different, depending on the weather. Yeah, that's it... I'll blame the weather.

March 13 edit: Want to know which varieties Sunset deemed best in the West in 2001?

Slicers:

'Brandywine'
'Odoriko'
'Paul Robeson'
'Cherokee Purple'
'Black Prince'
'Earl of Edgecombe'
'Flamme'
'Dona'
'Costoluto Genovese'
'Charlie Chaplin'
'Stupice'

Cherry:

'SunSugar'
'Sun Gold'
'Sugar Snack'
'Supersweet 100'
'Sweet 100'

Paste:

'San Marzano'
'Viva Italia'
'Principe Borghese' (favored for drying)


Ok, here's my final (ha ha) list:

Black (aka Black Prince)
Black from Tula
Early Girl
Sungold
Celebrity
Lemon Boy
Costoluto Genovese
Copia or some other yellow/orange/red bicolor
Impulse Purchase (available later in the season at various nurseries around town)

Oops, my finger slipped on the keyboard when I was ordering from T.G.S. and I accidentally added 'SunSugar' as well as the above. Keyboards can be slippery.

Can-O-Worms Update

I finally feel like I've got the hang of this whole kitchen vermicomposting thing. The first few months require patience because you put your worms in their bedding (I used coir), which they slooooowly eat, and then you start feeding them their preferred diet of veggie scraps, coffee grounds, banana peels and more until you've got a layer of finished compost. Once you're up and running, you have three layers going at the same time. The top layer is for fresh scraps and the two lower layers are still full of worms, but are further along.

When you want to use the bottom layer of finished compost, you move it to the top and remove the lid. In a day or two, the light and air drives the worms into your covered "fresh" layer below so what you end up with is pure compost ready to use in the garden.

It's so great to empty out the crisper bin of the fridge knowing that unused veggies aren't a total waste. Ok, so we ignored that broccoli or that bag of mixed baby greens. All is not lost! It's compost!

One temporary nuisance was the arrival of fruit flies. Opening the bin felt like I'd been visited by a plague of very tiny locusts. Luckily, the fruit flies don't adversely affect the worms or the compost. They're just annoying little... annoyances. Rotating the bin layers helps, as does adding a layer of bedding on top of the freshest kitchen scraps. If things get desperate, Gardener's Supply sells a fruit fry trap. A much more economical solution is to make your own trap using the excellent online instructions by Dr. Vett Lloyd, Department of Biology, Mount Allison University in New Brunswick, Canada.

(March 6 update-- I've been revisited by fruit flies and lept at the chance to make my own traps. Guess what? They work great! I put one on the counter near the bin and one in the bin. Both traps, using both designs shown in the above link, are filled with dead fruit flies in just two days! All it cost me was a little cider vinegar. I tried covering my scraps, but the flies kept hatching. Thank you, Dr. Lloyd!)

Overall, I've been very happy with my kitchen vermicomposting experience and plan to continue it indefinitely. Worms really are eating my garbage and giving me this amazing garden compost in return.

Sudden Frost Takes A Toll

Saucer magnolias in my neighborhood... just reaching their pink and purple glory... look very brown today after this morning's frost. In my yard, I noticed sulking princess flower shrubs and nasturtiums. My 'Tropicanna' cannas look extra scrappy today too. I think everything but the magnolia blossoms will recover nicely. My young magnolia is budding out a little late, so it may have been spared.

Hope y'all didn't run out to the nursery during that balmy weather last week and buy all kinds of tender tropicals and subtropicals...

Select Seeds Order

I have no business ordering more seeds considering I already have a shoebox full of seeds with waning viability, but I can rationalize this Select Seeds order because I "needed" one of their plant varieties, you see, and it seems a shame to place an order for plants only when they sell so many fine seeds.

Item p4720 Coleus 'Sedona'

(Photo from Select Seeds website)
'Sedona' coleus was the gateway plant that led to ordering more seeds. I looked everywhere last summer for this plant and never found it. By the time I resorted to online ordering, it was sold out everywhere I checked. I'm very attracted to peachy-pinky colors and 'Sedona' is the coolest coleus color I've ever seen.


Item p2910 Columbine 'Clementine Rose'

(Photo from Select Seeds website)
How pretty is this?!!!


Item s231 California Poppy 'Apricot Flambeau'

(Photo from Select Seeds website)
I've failed miserably with fancy Cal. pops. I think it's because I treat them like regular Cal. pops, simply sprinkling seeds in October. The fancy ones never come up. This time, I'm going to try them in pots like Annie's Annuals does.


Item s306 Nasturtium 'Whirlybird Cherry Rose'

(Photo from Select Seeds website)
I've grown this nasturtium for the last couple years and it's gorgeous. Nasturtiums are so easy from seed, which makes them extra rewarding to grow. This one would be great for kids to try.


Item s249 Poppy - Heirloom

(Photo from Select Seeds website)
Looks like Annie's Annuals' 'Drama Queen' poppy, no?


Item s359 Purple Bell Vine

(Photo from Select Seeds website)
I'm still trying with this one. I tried it last year and had no luck. Persevere...

Starting to think about tomatoes...

Last year was a very weird tomato year for me. I planted heirlooms and hybrids and everything was late to fruit, if they fruited at all. Some of my biggest tomatoes came from a Russian heirloom called 'Azoychka', but they mostly failed to ripen until fall and were a bit tart for my taste!

I did feel like we didn't get as much heat as usual. Those mild days were pleasant, but perhaps not tomato-friendly. Lesson learned? Plant an 'Early Girl' just in case. 'Sungold' has been good to me too, though I may give 'SunSugar' a go because of its reported crack-resistance.

Last summer's best-tasting and most prolific tomato? A volunteer seedling near where I grew 'Sungold' the previous year. It resembled a large red cherry tomato and was super sweet with just a little tang. Yum... and so much for all my planning.

Another disappointment was the size of my 'Jelly Bean' grape tomatoes. I pictured tiny and sweet and got big and bland. Almost crunchy.

I'm very interested in seeing what this year brings. More to follow on what varieties I'm gambling on this year...

On a side note, summer of 05' was a great year for hot peppers in my garden.

Backyard Orchard Culture

I'm finally delving into the world of growing my own "fruit shrubs". The empty bed where I'm planting these trees is a bit undersized according to Dave Wilson Nursery's spacing suggestions, but I selected dwarf trees and will just do my best with the space I have (or don't have).

Three trees in one hole, spaced about 18 inches apart:

(Photos from Stark Bros. online catalog)

Spring Satin Plumcot Dwarf


















Shiro Plum Dwarf














Redheart Plum Dwarf



















And in the same bed, but in its own hole, I've planted another 'Stella' Cherry.

The trees I ordered came from Stark Bros. and they looked great upon arrival today. I cut the whips to "knee height" according to DWN instructions so branching will be lower-- and more accessible-- than your typical orchard tree. We'll see how it goes!

If you have a chance, check out the mature fruit shrub specimens at the Fair Oaks Horticulture Center. Pretty impressive.

#*&^%$* Mosquitoes...

They're baaaaaack.
http://www.sacbee.com/content/news/story/14161412p-14989341c.html

Ivory-billed Woodpecker search

Ed Pandolfino, SacramentoGardening.com's bird expert, has been selected by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology to help search the Arkansas bayous this March for the newly rediscovered Ivory-billed woodpecker. The search began in October and ends in late April. We'll report back and let you know how it goes.

In the meantime, check out Cornell's outstanding info page on this elusive species: http://www.birds.cornell.edu/ivory/

Check out the required garb...

KVIE Backyard Living Show Airing Soon

I wanted to let folks know a locally-produced TV pilot called Grassroots Guide to Backyard Living is airing for the first time on KVIE's ViewFinder on February 1st at 7pm and the following Sunday, February 5th, at 6pm. Yours truly talked a little gardening in it, but the show covers all aspects of backyard living, including cooking in a portable backyard firepit. Check it out!

Fab Tree Hab

Now that's a tree house!

The Fab Tree Hab was designed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Team H.E.D. [Human Ecology Design]-- Mitchell Joachim, Ph.D., Lara Greden, Ph.D. and Javier Arbona, SMArchS.

A message from Dan and Annie

Please make it stop raining. We are getting very stir-crazy. We are trying to be good but we are starting to feel the urge to chew furniture... the cookbook bindings and that dollar bill held us off for awhile, but we don't know how much longer we can take this.

Respectfully,

Dan and Annie

Sunset Western Landscaping Book

The new edition of Sunset Western Landscaping is out now!

Jan. 23 update: Got my copy from amazon.com a few days ago. I give it 5 /5 stars. Sunset certainly didn't skimp on glossy color photos, plant palettes are inspiring and reflect regional differences, and suggestions are given for special growing conditions. These are big-budget gardens, but the designers didn't succumb to the tendency to unnecessarily overdo the hardscaping. Where hardscape is the dominant feature, it makes sense, like in the southwest. Plant lovers will find plenty of inspiration.

Vegiforms

Ever since I saw the story about square watermelons being marketed in Japan, I've wanted to mold my own produce. Now I can with Vegiforms.

Available shapes include: the Garden Elf, Pickle Pusses, Ear of Corn, Heart and Diamond. Will a Frankentomato be as tasty as a normal tomato? We'll find out. One also has to factor in the amusement factor.



Here's a blogger with some actual experience with Vegiforms! With photos! Click here.

Annie's Annuals Printed Catalog and Sale

Ok, garden catalog junkies... Annie's Annuals' printed catalog debuts in February! If you're not already on their mailing list, here's a link: http://www.anniesannuals.com/mlist/default.asp

Also, plants at the nursery are 15% off through the end of January. Here's a link to the printable coupon: click here

Saucer Magnolia Envy

In Berkeley the other day, I felt compelled to announce to our hostess that her neighbor's saucer magnolias were blooming. In January. She seemed to take this remarkable news in stride. I guess when you live in a clime of perpetual springtime, it ain't no thang when a spectacularly showy tree blooms in winter. Back in Sacramento, we have real winter... ok, not real winter, but the kind that occasionally makes you put on a coat. Or pants. My saucer magnolia's tiny buds are still in their winter wear.

According to my date-stamped photo records of what blooms when here, our white stellata magnolias bloom first, in February. Colorful, showy saucer magnolias will follow in March. Allow variations for Mother Nature.

If you want to see what we're missing, the Chronicle has a couple recent magnolia articles (with pics)--

Magnificent magnolias Natives of the Deep South and their local offspring bring S.F. Botanical Garden to life this month
by Alice Joyce, author of "Gardenwalks in California"

When the tree's sweet blossoms come on, it's a sunshine daydream in the winter
by Miriam Owen, Special to the Chronicle

Poinsettia Care

Here's a good link: http://www.pauleckepoinsettias.com/html/point_fset.html

New Book- California Native Plants

At long last, a new book on California native plants for the garden! San Jose Mercury News calls it "gorgeous" and says it contains "450 color photos that will show even skeptics that natives can bring eye-popping color, sensuous texture and dramatic effects to any size garden..."

Slurp... drool... I want it, I want it!



Paperback version is about 10 bucks cheaper, btw...

Regional Garden Featured in Movie

Hakone Gardens in Saratoga, Ca was used as a movie location for the blockbuster film, Memoirs of a Geisha. Read more in this San Jose Mercury News article.

Get ready to have your mind blown, lovers of flora, fauna...

& Photoshop.

Blow my mind!